I am a senior editor at Forbes, covering legal affairs, corporate finance, macroeconomics and the occasional sailing story. I was the Southwest Bureau manager for Forbes in Houston from 1999 to 2003, when I returned home to Connecticut for a Knight fellowship at Yale Law School. Before that I worked for Bloomberg Business News in Houston and the late, great Dallas Times Herald and Houston Post. While I am a Chartered Financial Analyst and have a year of law school under my belt, most of what I know about financial journalism, I learned in Texas.

NFL Concussion Settlement Ends The Best Cases, But Not All Of Them

The proposed $765 million settlement between the National Football League and retired players goes a long way toward ending a potential existential threat to professional football. By funding medical monitoring, research and compensation for players who claim they were unknowingly put in danger of permanent mental damage, the league will settle — without admitting liability — the most potent lawsuits against it.

The litigation isn’t over yet, however. Lawyers are also suing helmet manufacturers like Riddell and the NCAA. They might try to go after college and high-school football programs, too. It would make sense, after all: Brain injuries are cumulative, and much of the damage is probably done when players are young and lack the musculature to dampen the sudden head motions that cause concussions.

I asked sports-law expert Timothy Epstein with SmithAmundsen in Chicago for his thoughts on the settlement and where the litigation goes next.

Q. Does this end all concussion litigation against the NFL?

A. The settlement calls for the appointment of a special administrator to determine payouts to individuals. It is unclear how this litigation will affect future claims (e.g. players that will still be active in the League at the time the settlement is approved), but it is unlikely to definitively block future claims by players for injuries not yet sustained.

Q. What kind of case would future players have?

A. It will be more difficult to make these types of claims in the future, as awareness and transparency are becoming the norm.

A. I’m not sure that the NFLPA was a major factor in this. The NFL tried to make the argument that the Collective Bargaining Agreement preempts the litigation, and that the claims should have been handled by arbitration procedures under the collective bargaining agreement (CBA). Ultimately, this was resolved through mediation that was not conducted pursuant to the CBA, but rather by court order from Judge Juanita Brody.

Q. How big a threat is the Arrington lawsuit against the NCAA?

Class certification at the collegiate level could be more difficult, although, arguably member institutions owe a greater duty to student-athletes than the NFL owes to professionals. There may be less chance of a lump settlement like the NFL case, because although the NCAA is an Association of member institutions (schools and conferences), there is no sole entity with deep pockets, such as the NFL. High school lawsuits are likely to be on a case-by-case basis.

Q. How about other defendants? Could they sue broadcasters like ESPNESPN for aiding and abetting?

A. I do not see how television networks like ESPN could be considered complicit.

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